The Amulet
by HypnoBabble
Summary: An ordinary criminal destroys the Titans in battle before taking her own life claiming that someone else is controlling her. Raven picks up an amulet the criminal had, is it the cause? And can Raven decipher its powers?


DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans, the show, comic and all characters contained within belong to DC and Warner Bros

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans, the show, comic and all characters contained within belong to DC and Warner Bros. Any character that I have created is of my original invention and any similarities to any existing characters are purely accidental, in furtherance of this, any original character of mine can be used as long as permission is requested… I will most likely approve.  
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_"Anyone who has ever told you that you control your own destiny… Lied."_

Raven didn't quite understand what was going on, given the situation, why should she? As far as she knew, Monique "Money" O'Hearn was just a run of the mill bank robber and she saw no reason why the Teen Titans would need to be brought in for a case like this.  
"Something doesn't seem right about this Robin… As much as I hate to agree with Beast Boy on anything, there is no reason why the police shouldn't be able to take O'Hearn into custody. They didn't need us the first time, and we didn't even hear about her second attempt until the next day." Raven said to her leader who was flying alongside her with his old Red X jetpack.

"Trust me Raven, it doesn't seem right to me either. It's already hard enough to keep the superpowered criminals at bay when we're short a member, but I hope the city has enough common sense to not call us for some petty crook." Robin said and then sighed deeply, his half finished jetpack making the air around him hot and painful to breathe in. Ever since Cyborg left, his life, and those of the members of his team, had gotten immensely stressful. Stress was not good for a group of sixteen to eighteen year old teenagers who were living together.

"_Every hidden story, every little secret you hold… you will eventually tell."_

"Down there Titans, in front of the Fifth Street Bank. Try to approach this as stealthily as possible, we don't need a firefight with the workload we already have. Titans go!" Robin ordered as he watched O'Hearn standing there in front of the bank, he watched confused as no damage seemed to have been done to the bank. In fact, as far as he could tell, all that had been done was that the alarm had been tripped. He noticed two long nails in O'Hearn's left hand, as well as an amulet in her right hand.

Beast Boy landed first and immediately turned into a large gorilla, he wrapped O'Hearn up in his large arms and held her so close to his body it was a miracle she even had the ability to breathe. He looked up at his still hovering leader and smiled a large gorilla smile. Robin smiled back rather weakly, clearly upset that the JCPD had called them in to deal with this. He turned to Raven, whom he could tell was thinking the exact same thing.

"_You will release me, then you will obey me for as long as you exist."_

All of a sudden, a shriek could be heard from the street below. Robin and Raven turned to watch in horror as all O'Hearn had to do was open her arms and Beast Boy was knocked off of her and sent flying back into the bank. Starfire rushed down to help the changling before Robin could tell her to stop. He watched, as if it were happening in slow motion, as Starfire delivered a massive overhand punch straight to the forehead of the bank robber. Starfire looked at her undamaged foe, then down at her hand, and looked into the face of her enemy in silent shock. O'Hearn nodded and as though getting struck by a giant wrecking ball, Starfire went flying, eventually crashing through the fifth storey window of an office building three blocks down the road. Raven prepared to attack but Robin held out his arm to get her to hold her position.

"What are you after O'Hearn? Tripping a bank alarm and then waiting for the police doesn't seem like a particularly smart thing to do." Robin yelled down to the convict, her head lifted to look at him then she smiled.

"I want freedom Robin, I want to be free of these bonds. For the longest time I believed I was free. I have since learned that there is no freedom in this world, because unless all of us are free, none of us are." O'Hearn spoke to him. Raven could detect a certain magical element in the way she was speaking, almost as if she was not herself, but in fact, being controlled by another creature.

"If freedom is what you're after O'Hearn, then it was a really dumb idea to attempt to rob a bank. Typically, bank robberies ruin your chances at staying free." Robin yelled to the criminal, and again all she did was smile up at him. This made him very angry and in one move he swooped down and pulled out his staff, intending to make sure she didn't wake up for a long time.

"_Your heart is the one thing that cannot be manipulated, and even it agrees."_

O'Hearn looked him right in the eyes as he swooped in and suddenly he fell from the sky, landing right in front of her. She swept the blonde hair from her face and looked up at the eighteen year old still hovering in the sky. The young criminal's face could easily be read as a challenge. She bent down, reaching out to touch him, the action meaning to appear like a claim, as though she were going to make Robin her property. Raven seemed tentative and prepared to attack but wasn't sure how to react to the situation, she was all alone, and this was about the time when she really wish she had teammates.

O'Hearn looked down at Robin and then up at Raven. Raven and her stared right into each other's eyes and O'Hearn gestured to Robin while licking her lips. Suddenly, without knowing what was coming over her, Raven felt herself being engulfed in a very powerful mix of jealousy and rage. O'Hearn watched smiling as Raven's pupils turned green, letting her know that the Titan was completely under her spell.

"_Your entire body wants you to do exactly as I say for the rest of your life."_

Raven charged angrily, not able to focus, thinking solely of the fact that O'Hearn was threatening to take away the man that she loved and she would not have it. Raven dove straight at O'Hearn and suddenly found herself out of breath as she was grabbed by the neck and being held right in front of her enemy's face. Raven angrily tried to do anything to get to O'Hearn but she was losing her breath, she did the only thing she could to resist. She spit in the crook's face. O'Hearn did not react but stared her straight in the eye, O'Hearn's mouth opened to speak but the voice that came out of it was masculine and strong.

"These thoughts that are controlling you, they are not real. I caused the jealousy in you to force you to confront me. You do not love this man, and you know you do not. You, like all others are merely slaves to their emotions, like I once was, before I became this. I am but a spirit and I cannot stand it, a purely illogical being that is bound in the world of logic. You are free…" The voice spoke to Raven, the green glaze of her pupils fading as he finished his speech, this was shortly followed by a clear view of the pavement as Raven was tossed gently to the ground.

"No! I will not let you control me you beast! I will be free of you no matter what I do!" O'Hearn screamed out to the rising moon. She fought to raise her left arm and screamed out as she plunged the two long nails deep into her throat. She gasped for air and relished in the comfort of freedom as the blood dripped quickly from her neck. With her final breath she yanked the nails out of her throat victoriously, allowing for one more spurt of blood before falling to the earth in a pool of it. Dying with a smile as her hand felt the fang marks she had left in her neck with the nails. The amulet falling from her hand beside Raven, who managed to fight herself to one knee and pick it up, staring at it with a look of both disbelief and confusion.

"Are you the cause of all this?" She asked out loud, before pocketing the amulet and running to check on her teammates.

_"And if you refuse, then I will refuse you your right to live."_

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**Author's Note: There... my first chapter on the site in forever. God, I missed it. It's a shame my original account was "locked" from me. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys. Please Review, I love getting feedback. I also like it if people predict things, because sometimes you come up with great stuff I wouldn't even think of.  
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